On March 14th an 18 wheeler on I-35 in
#austin crashed into a total of 19 vehicles, killing 5 people, including 2 children, and injuring at least a dozen others.
Police claim the driver was drunk (because of course they did) but he tested 0.00% alcohol on his breathalyzer exam. They also claim he was on anti-depressents, but honestly it could have theoretically been something as simple as he fell asleep at the wheel or had some sort of medical emergency while driving. I don't mean to take blame away from the driver, just to highlight that mistakes happen.
Of course any death is sad but I think this was was extra sad because at the time they were doing construction, and had 2/3 lanes closed and funneled into 1. Which means those drivers probably were in bumper-to-bumper traffic and watched in terror, with nowhere to go, as an 18 wheeler barreled toward them and plowed them to their deaths. The crash was completely unavoidable to the victims. It doesn't matter how skilled they were or how quickly they acted. It could have been you, me, or anyone else who happened to be there at that time.
Point is, these sort of traffic crashes and deaths are inevitable in the current system. People are imperfect (as are machines, for that matter). If I were king, all roads in the city would have 25MPH limits, and I would require everyone to have speed limiters installed. I would take the highway budget (billions/year) and use it to build massive garages on the edges of town. Rental companies could fill them with "real" cars in case you wanted to leave town.
Think of the implications:
- Vehicle emissions drop to near-zero.
- Oil consumption drops to near-zero.
- Traffic deaths drop to near-zero.
- Cars suddenly become wayyyy more accessible because they don't need complex powertrains or expensive safety equipment (look up
#microcars).
- Electric cars become accessible as well, as the expensive batteries don't need to be nearly as large, further compounding point #1.
- Every road becomes a bike lane.
Downsides? Things would be forced to move at a slower pace. Would that really be so awful?
https://www.kvue.com/article/news/local/austin-9th-homicide-i35-crash/269-05a529a4-8a37-4fdb-8197-782639ea0adf#visionzero #trafficsafety #trafficcollision #biketooter #austintx
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